This was originally written by Artemis, for the old forum. I just retrieved it from the archives and am posting it here, entirely unaltered.

Nation of Skyhaven

'The smallest of the four North American countries, Skyhaven is nonetheless a big player in international affairs. Located on the Pacific coast between the American states of California and Oregon, Skyhaven was founded by entrepreneur and early metahuman Gregory Banks, also known as the Avian Adventurer. The background of this fascinating individual is crucial to understanding the origins and current-day role of the Nation of Skyhaven.

Born with hollow bones and considered a cripple for most of his life, Gregory Banks did not give in to despair as many might have. Confined to a wheelchair for the first twenty years of his life, he chose to sharpen his mind since his body was all but useless to him. He became a brilliant inventor and a formidable businessman, and he was solely responsible for many fascinating and useful tools used on the western frontier, these including but not being limited to self-reloading revolvers, a steam train that could deploy numerous legs and walk (as proved very useful, as train tracks were often being destroyed by some rogue group or another), and what is considered to be the first man-powered flying machine. It was this machine that allowed Gregory Banks to take his place in history as one of America's first superheros.

As it turned out, Banks' hollow bones made him far lighter than most human beings, and he discovered that he was also gifted with an almost perfect sense of direction and inertia. Using the flying machine he had dubbed the Cherub mk. I, he was able to lift off the ground with the giant aluminum wings he had strapped to his back, to soar as a bird and land just as easily, with the help of an aluminum exoskeleton. The Cherub mk. I became the mk. II, became the mk. III, and finally evolved into the Golden Cherub, a set of mechanical wings sturdy and maneuverable enough to be not only practical, but revolutionary. While Cherub mk. IVs were produced by Banks Engineering Ltd., Banks himself donned a scarf, goggles, and a pair of six-shooter to become the man known as the Avian Adventurer, traveling the length and breadth of the American west fighting bandits, rogues, outlaws, and the occasional early American supervillian.

As Banks grew older, and his crime-fighting persona became too difficult to keep up, he sat down with his closest friends, advisers, business partners and fellow inventors. The American Civil War had just ended, and though the Union was once again instated, Banks realized that his country was not as noble and pure as he had once thought it was. Many of his inventions, including war-models of the Cherub mk. V, had been used to catastrophic effect during the war, and the knowledge that he had been indirectly responsible for such carnage filled Banks with regret. And so, with many loyal followers and pilgrims who had heard about his plan, he carved out a small country for himself between planned territories, and christened his country the Nation of Skyhaven.

Over the next century, Skyhaven would come to be known as one of the most progressive and technologically advanced countries in the world. It fought in WWII on the side of the Allies, sending countless adventurer-soldiers into the Pacific to fight the Japanese and to claim treasures and artifacts all over the islands and mainland Asia for use in the war. After the Axis were defeated, many of these things were taken back to Skyhaven. Artifact-weapons matching the tools of the Hindu gods as described in the Deva epic poems, ancient Chinese alchemical tools and processes that had been forgotten for thousands of years, the intelligent descendants of dinosaurs from lands that time forgot, spaceships that had crash-landed in the bottom of the ocean, all of this and much, much more were taken back to Skyhaven, and have been incorporated into their society. In Skyhaven, the strange is to be expected, and the unexpected is behind every closed door.

With so much fascinating material to work with, Skyhaven has pushed the boundaries of technology further than most countries dare. Only the Republic of Kragoresthan can claim to match them in sheer scientific brilliance, and you can ask any Skyhaven citizen what they think of their eastern European rivals and the kindest answer you'll get is a suggestion that the Kragoreshtani government acquires their best inventions through unethical means. This doesn't mean, of course, that Skyhaven is the a superpower on the North American continent - they simply do not have the raw size and power of the United States, though the two countries are on genial terms. Most of their national income results from selling their more conventional technologies, its biggest customer these days being Russia, in fact - the problem of vampiric infestation has interested the current Grand Scientist-Statesman, Thierry Juneau, and he has ordered an entire R&D contingent to go to Russia and ascertain what they can do to help Mr. Putin with his problem. The opportunity to spy on and steal from Kragoresthan is, of course, only a fortunate side bonus.

Skyhaven is home to a fairly large population of metahumans and superheros, considering the nation\'s size (barely larger than the state of New Hampshire). Many of them, unsurprisingly, have their fantastic origins in genetic enchancement, artificial mutation, cybernetics, and strange tools and weaponry that even the most unconventional American crimefighters would be at a loss to explain. Few supervillians make their home in Skyhaven, for two very good reason - the first is that Skyhaven citizens are brought up from childhood in a mixture of a strong sense of community, and a potent social propaganda machine that tells each and every citizen that "Genius, Adventure, and Loyalty" are the best traits a Skyhaven man or woman can claim. The second is that most supervillians are only as brilliant as the heroes they face - and then, not even all the time.

Professor Harold Quartermass has been given an honorary citizenship within the Nation of Skyhaven, and many American superheroes are considered members of the Corps of Foreign Adventurers, and are welcome within the nation.

"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia."- Frank Castle

It's a cowardly form of politics to use my spouse to beat me. Instead I shall drop the beat!

I've wanted to have this awesome article back, and now it is. Hurrah for you, and hurrah for returning archived data!

EDIT: although, the mentions in this article do bring up some points. First off, the "four North American nations"--is Aenea still Comix canon? I though Moby wasn't planning on reviving that. Also, on the mention of Kragoreshtan, does that nation still exist as well in new Comix canon?

I admire the man, he has a high tolerance for insanity (and inanity - which he generously contributed!). ~Shroom, on my wierdness tolerance.

Very cool, as always. Though it makes me wonder how exactly they managed to get a territory of their own, independent and all that from the victorious Union. Maybe their patch of land was never really part of the US of America, and maybe Gregory Banks found a deed to that land belonging to some ancestral explorer who claimed the land as his own.

Just like in that Scrooge McDuck story, where his bigass vault and money hill become an independent country and he and the rest of the Ducks have to defend themselves from an invading army of Beagle Boys.

I also wonder just how exactly more advanced Skyhaven is from the rest of America, considering that now the rest of the world has seemingly "caught up".

EDIT:

Four North American countries. Canada, USA, Mexico and Skyhaven.

Kragoreshtan is probably still canon. I mentioned him in MiG Man and Siege plans to have a ridiculous Serpent set up shop there.

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD

The Barony of New Reagan is a commonwealth of the U.S., so it wouldn't count as an independent country (maybe). Also, Central America doesn't necessarily have to be a part of North America depending on how you define the area.

You know, with Siege using H.G. Wells for his Martian and British stuff, I was wondering if we could pull some Jules Verne as well. No, I'm not talking about Nemo right now - though Vic has stated his plants for Nemo as well - but rather I'm talking about The Begum Millions.

The story talks about how two men inherit some fortune and construct their own scientific wonders. The Frenchman buys a plot of land in America, that becomes a city-state, and turns it into a futuristic utopia with healthcare for all. The Germanian, on the other hand, buys a neighboring plot that likewise becomes an industrialized city-state, but one that is militaristic and dystopic in nature!

So I was thinking that perhaps this can be tied into the foundation of Skyhaven. After the American Civil War, Gregory Banks could've shacked up with some Frenchman or German to create a city state or a bunch of city states - purchasing land from the US of A or something. Or maybe someone or something was a descendant of an explorer with a deed/title to a plot of land in the West Coast that made him rightful owner of his own territory. Like that story in DuckTales where Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin becomes a sovereign nation.

AMYWAY. The biggest thing about this story is that the city states founded by the Frenchman and the German? They're in OREGON! Like, the state right above California. Which is where SKYHAVEN is at! SKYHAVEN, which is a city state (actually a state made up of several cities), made by a GENIUS INVENTOR, for the purpose of creating something utopic! I don't know if this is coincidence, or if Arty was using Verne's story as a basis - since while Siege is all about H.G. Wells, Arty's toying with Nemo in CSW has shown him to be more of a Jules kinda guy.

Oh, oh. And there's one more thing! ZE GERMANS! It makes so much sense now. Why? Because right beside Oregon AND Skyhaven is California. And we all know what's in California, right? That's right! VIVA VON REAGAN!

The Evil German in the story even wants to build a superweapon in the form of a GIANT CANNON that fires "massive incendiary charges over a distance of 40 km (just the distance from Steel City to Ville-France), and shells filled with gas" "designed not only to suffocate its victims but at the same time also freeze them. A special projectile is filled with compressed liquid carbon dioxide that, when released, instantly lowers the surrounding temperature to a hundred degrees Celsius below zero, quick-freezing every living thing in the vicinity." MU-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA!

The story ends with the Evil German ruing his day and getting his own ass frozen in carbonite, and the Frenchman and his French Utopia taking over the German Dystopia. Nonetheless, they keep the German weapons "to make Ville-France so strong that nobody would dare attack it ever again".

THE END

So. Reaganites, Frenchmen inventors (with clockworks?), Gregory Banks and his Cherubs, the American Civil War with the Giant Mechanical Spiders and such and such, Oregon, California, and Skyhaven! What say you? Yeah? Fuck yeah!

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD